Welcome to doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet and to the Department ofClinical Neuroscience
Karolinska Institutet (KI) is one of the world’s leading medical universities whose researchers produce work of supreme international influence. We are proud of our doctoral students, all of whom contribute greatly to the high quality research conducted at the university. Our responsibility as an academic institution is to ensure that our doctoral students receive a solidresearch trainingand leave KI with a doctoral degree, fully prepared to enter a competitive global job market.
You begin your journey as a doctoral studentafter having been selected as a small but important cog in the engine that will take us towards our shared goal of advancing our positionand making a crucial contribution to the improvement of human health.
Welcome to doctoral education at KI!
Diagram: Schematic outline of doctoral education at KI.
What is doctoral education?
Put simply, it is research that is conducted under supervision complemented with other educational activities,in order to attain knowledge and understanding, competences and skills, as well as sound scientific judgement and approaches. This is the overarching outcomesfor the degree of doctor (and licentiate degree) as formulated in the Higher Education Ordinance. How this is achieved is very much an individual matter, so in a sense there are as many education processes as there are students.
Your individual study plan describes your scientific project as well as your individualised intended learning outcomes – designed to suit your specific subject and research project – and the research training activities that areplanned to take you there. This becomes a roadmap for you to follow during your studies that will hopefully ease your supervision and help you build a clearer understanding of what is expected of you.
Your individual study plan is formally established on your admission to doctoral education, and once a year you and your supervisor will make sure that you are well on the way and make any necessary adjustments or revisions.
At the first annual follow-up, you will also be invited to a meeting with your department’s director of doctoral education. In this way, all doctoral students get to meet the study director and he/she gets more insight into your and your fellow students’ academic and social situation. After the equivalent of two years’ full-time education, a more comprehensive follow-up is conducted known as the half-time review.
Websites for doctoral students
The following is a brief description of things you might need to know as a new doctoral student, but there is naturally much more besides this,and other questions will come up as you progress through your studies. You therefore have to be able to find the information you need on the web, both the central doctoral portalon “internwebben” and your department’s own internal pages.
It’s a good idea to bookmark the doctoral portal atinternwebben.ki.se/en/doctoral-education.Here you will find a lot of useful material such as rules, forms and information about your thesis defence. Note that there’s also a handy set of links down the right hand side of the page.
For more department-specific information:
For access to the department internal web:
there you will findactivities/other information for doctoral students
Research – Resources and support
- Academic milieu
- Seminar series/Journal Clubs
- Research documentation and archiving
Other information
Thenewsletter Doctoral Education News is sent out roughly every five weeks to the departments, which then distribute it to their doctoral students. If you don’t receive a copy, contact your department’s administrator for doctoral education. News is also published regularly on the portal, so don’t forget to check in there too.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for online, there are people around to help. Talk to your supervisor or your director of doctoral education if you have any questions about matters like your individual study plan, course requirements, credit transfer, your half-time review and supervision. There is also at least one administrator for doctoral education at your department who can help you with practical issues, such as Ladok. If you have any questions about employment, scholarships, insurances and the like, please contact your department’s HR staff.
Introduction
During your first year of studies, you and all other doctoral students at KI must take part in a centrally arranged introduction. It’s a good idea to sign up as soon as you can, as the earlier you do it, the more you’ll get out of it. You can find the registration page on the doctoral portal.
Rules for doctoral education
The portal will also give you access to the Rules fordoctoral education at KI, which all supervisors and students are expected to familiarise themselves with. Even though the rules can sometimes seem rather complex, the idea is to ensure that all students get the same opportunities to pursue a decent education and that KI complies with the regulations that apply to Swedish higher education institutes.
Courses and other learning activities
All doctoral students at KI are to acquire knowledge and skills by attending general science and project-specific courses and other credit-bearing activities. You can read more about this in the generalsyllabus for medical science (the doctoral subject that all new doctoral students are admitted onto).
It’s a good idea to apply for the general science courses early on so that you have time to complete them before your half-time review. The application deadline for autumn semester courses falls around 15 May, and spring semester courses around 15 November. You can find what courses are available in the course catalogue. This and the general syllabus can be accessed through the doctoral portal.
Doctoral programmes
KI offers a number of thematic doctoral education programmes comprising an overarching range of courses and learning activities in different research fields. Taking part in activities arranged by the programmes is a good way to build yourself a network in your research field that extends beyond your own research group and department.
As a doctoral student you can register an interest in one or more programmes and find out about the courses and activities offered at any time by sending an email to the relevant administrator or coordinator. You will find their contact details on the KI intranet.
Courses can be applied for through the course catalogue in the normal way (see above) and are open to all, regardless whether or not interest has been registered.
Research schools
KI also operates a number of research schools. These schools are mainly designed for clinically active students, who attend courses and other activities as a class. See the web for more information.
Ladok
Your courses and other credit-bearing activities are recorded in Ladok, a digital documentation system for students. You can view the details registered under your name in Ladok and print them out via the “Ladokweb” link on the portal.
Swedish courses
KI offers Swedish courses to students with little or no knowledge of the language. See Visiting Researcheron ”internwebben” for more details.
Mentor
As a complement to the supervisor, an independent person shall be appointed to act as your mentor during the doctoral education. Mentors can come from within the university or from the council health services, industry or other sector of society, and are there to give you impartial advice on, for example, career planning or contact with extramural sectors. Think about what you would like to do in the future when selecting a mentor. While you have one year to find a suitable person it is a good idea to have a mentor already at the point of admission.
The Medical Students’ Union (MF) and the Doctoral Students’ Ombudsman
It’s also a good idea to join the MF’s doctoral section, whichrepresents the interests of doctoral students at KI.The Doctoral Section has seats on the Board of Doctoral Education and other decision-making bodies at KI.
MF also has a Doctoral Students’ Ombudsman, who is there to help you if things aren’t working out well between you and your department or supervisor. The ombudsman treats all matters in the strictest confidence. Contact details can be found on the portal.
Contact the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Contacts CNS
Jan Hillert, Head of 517760 97
Robert Harris, Study 517765 61
Eva Holmgaard, Study 524832 37
Karin W Blomberg, Head of 524832 45
Elin Johansson, Chairman of environment 524830 44
Address: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, floor 5, 171 77 Stockholm
2015-09-09
Useful links
2015-09-09
Rules for doctoral education at KI:
General syllabus for third-cycle/doctoral education in the subject of Medical Science:
You will find most of what you need to know here for example regarding the half-time review, doctoral courses, doctoral programmes, rules and regulations, thesis defence, funding and compulsory introduction to doctoral education:
Forms and documents for doctoral education:
Intended learning outcomes for doctoral education:
Ladok on the web:
Doctoral Students’ Association:
Doctoral student’s ombudsman (Doktorandombudsmannen):
Student health centre:
Visiting Researcher Services:
Partnerships at doctoral level:
Your employment:
Work environment and health:
Health promotion:
Equal treatment:
Sustainability work:
Externallinks
Doktorandhandboken (in English):
Study in Sweden:
2015-09-09
CNS-homepage
At is information about doctoral education under the title Doctoral education.
The central doctoral portal, internwebben:
Activity & Financing
The form Activity & Financing for doctoral students is sent in May & December, respectively to the study administrator.
Annual report
The Individual Study Plan is evaluated and revised annually.
The original and signed form Yearly follow-up is sent to the study administrator during January.
Change of contact details
The study administrator should be informed of any changes via e-mail for registration in LADOK.
Courses
Course activities conducted at KI are automatically registered by the course host Department. For other courses as well as other activities for which ECTS are applied for, see more detail on CNS web site:
Questionsabout e-mail please contact KIMKAT-administrators within the Departmental administration.
Halftime control
The form Half-time control application is sent to the study administrator.Form 5: Protocol at half-time review, signed original,is sent to the study administrator following the halftime control.
Certificate / LADOK-excerpt
The study administrator can download this form for each student.
Sickness or parental leave
The study administrator should be informed via e-mail about longer period of sickness or parental leave .
Supervisor – change / addition of main or co-supervisor
The original and signed form 15 Change ofSupervisors, is sent to the study administrator.
Temporary / permanent break in studies
The study administrator should be informed via e-mail. For permanent withdrawal from doctoral studies the original and signed form Deregistration as student is sent to the study administrator.
Thesis defence
The original and signed Form 11:Transcript of Public Defence is sent to the study administrator for registration of ’All courses completed’ and is then sent to the central examination administrator.
Thesis publication
For questions regarding printing of thesis see the doctoral portal:internwebben.ki.se/en/doctoral-education
2015-09-09